S’gor to dispense 40pct more vaccines this week, but how is unclear
Selangor residents will be vaccinated at a higher rate soon as more than four million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are to be sent to the state in July.
According to CITF data revealed by Siti Mariah yesterday, Selangor is targeted to dispense 3.8 million doses of the four million supplied by the end of July.
In the next week...
Selangor residents will be vaccinated at a higher rate soon as more than four million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are to be sent to the state in July.
According to CITF data revealed by Selangor's executive councillor in charge of health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, the state targets to dispense 3.8 million doses of the four million by the end of July.
In the next week alone, CITF said 874,610 doses of vaccines will be supplied to the state.
To use up all of the doses supplied, vaccine centres in Selangor must dispense an average of 124,944 doses a day, with vaccine centres operating seven days a week.
This is 42 percent or 37,328 doses more than the 87,616 a day maximum capacity, said Siti.
She said the state government is working on a way to support the Selangor Health Department so it can dispense vaccines at a faster rate, after receiving confirmation of the incoming supply starting tomorrow.
“The menteri besar will make an announcement about this soon,” she said.
At present, not all vaccine centres operate on weekends, with the minister in charge of the vaccination programme, Khairy Jamaluddin, citing human resource issues.
In May, he said vaccine centres will start operating on weekends “soon”.
The minister also said Selangor’s vaccination capacity would be raised to 130,000 daily in July, but did not reveal how.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) is managed by the federal government’s Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) and assisted by state health departments, which are also federal entities under the Health Ministry.
The supply of vaccines and the rate appointments are given out are entirely under CITF’s purview.
Where will the 4 mil doses allocated for Selangor go?
Ramping up vaccination rates in Selangor means additional vaccine centres and additional pressure on the Selangor State Health Department (JKNS) to supply vaccinators and support staff.
Selangor has at least 76 vaccination centres currently running.
This includes 44 at health clinics, 13 at public halls and facilities, 13 at public hospitals and a teaching hospital, and six “integrated or mega” vaccination centres.
Not all the vaccine centres are managed by JKNS, with mega vaccination centres run by private entities.
The Setia City Convention Centre mega vaccination centre, for example, is run by IHH Healthcare Malaysia, which also manages its own human resources.
In such arrangements, vaccines are supplied directly by ProtectHealth Corporation (PHCorp), a health government-linked company (GLC), to the vaccine centres, bypassing the JKNS.
Similarly, PHCorp supplies vaccines directly to general practitioner (GP) clinics that signed on to be vaccination centres, and this does not come under the purview of JKNS.
On June 1, the Malaysian Medical Association said 750 GP clinics in Selangor have registered to administer Covid-19 vaccines, and at least 200 have been trained by PHCorp.
JKNS also does not manage the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19 Industry Immunisation Programme (Pikas), which is handled by the International Trade and Industry Ministry and PHCorp.
Under Pikas, companies can either arrange for their staff to be vaccinated at a mega vaccination centre or at their own premises, depending on the number of staff.
It is unclear how many of the four million doses allocated to Selangor in July will be dispensed under Pikas.
Data on the daily capacity of each vaccination centre in Selangor is also not publicly available.
Only 14 percent in Selangor have received first dose
Earlier, Siti and Khairy engaged in a public spat after Khairy said Selangor was too slow in dispensing the vaccines, at a rate of less than 50,000 a day.
Siti responded by saying that vaccine centres in the state have the capacity to dispense at least 80,000 a day but were not supplied enough vaccines.
However, Khairy said CITF supplied based on the state’s capacity to dispense only 40,000 a day, as informed to CITF in a meeting with Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.
During a press conference this afternoon, Khairy said that CITF will be increasing vaccine supply to Selangor as the state's daily vaccination rate has picked up.
He said that increases in Selangor's capacity followed the opening of several new vaccination centres and additional manpower at the centres.
It is hoped Selangor can inoculate over 100,000 doses a day soon.
Khairy added that authorities are also working to clean up vaccination data in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, as many of Selangor residents took their vaccine at centres in Kuala Lumpur.
"We have to remember that some of the Selangor data previously have been captured in Kuala Lumpur. There have been a lot of appointments sent to Kuala Lumpur (vaccination centres) for Selangor residents who live near the border.
"We are trying to clean up the data so we can show in fact Selangor has been receiving vaccines in Kuala Lumpur," he said.
Selangor is the nation’s most populous state and consistently records the most number of Covid-19 cases daily.
Up to June 29, a total of 914,648 or 14 percent of the Selangor population have received their first dose, while 287,127 or 4.4 percent have received both doses.
In comparison, 1.03 million or 36.6 percent of Sarawak residents have received their first dose while 246,259 or 8.7 percent have received both doses.
Khairy has said vaccination in the Borneo state was expedited in anticipation of a state election.
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